Various retail goods/services cannot be purchased/performed other than at the outlet of the retailer of such goods/services. Goods such as gasoline, diesel fuel, propane and a variety of other fuels, as well as services including vehicle repair or servicing, laundry and dry cleaning services, food service and the like, must generally be physically acquired at the retail outlet.
As with most items for sale, consumers of retail goods/services that are generally not deliverable to the consumer are interested in finding them at convenient and/or nearby locations, and/or finding them while traveling for other reasons, such as work, recreation, and/or other shopping. Unfortunately, the consumer presently has only limited ways to determine if a particular retailer of such goods/services has additional goods/services that may be of interest. For example, vehicle fuel or like retailers often have convenience store items available at their outlet, or provide vehicle repair or servicing, but the consumer may generally be unaware of these other goods/services unless/until they actually visit the outlet. In addition, vehicle fuel or like retailers have other features that are of interest to consumers, such as hours of operation, acceptance of credit cards, and automated teller machines (ATMs). From the point of view of both consumers and retailers, it would be worthwhile to provide consumers with information relating to the array of goods/services provided by the retailer without the consumer having to visit the outlet.
Additionally, retail consumers of goods/services that are subject to frequent, volatile, and/or asynchronous (meaning non-uniform over time or without a consistent pattern between various retailers) price fluctuations, are interested in finding the most attractive price for such goods/services. For example, a vehicle owner typically purchases fuel about 1.2 times per week, and the price of the fuel may vary within this period. The most attractive price is not necessarily the lowest price, but it is that price which the consumer judges to be best in terms of a variety of factors, including those such as quality, convenience, and other subjective factors. Unfortunately, in the case of these types of goods/services, the consumer often has to drive around to assess the prices of competing retailers in order to determine which retailer has the most attractive price. As a result, much time, vehicle operating expense, and effort can be expended in trying to determine the most attractive price. Further, because of the frequent, volatile, and/or asynchronous price fluctuations of such goods/services, consumers find that prices can change between the time that they are observed and the time that the purchase is consummated. From the point of view of both consumers and retailers, it would be worthwhile to have the ability to provide consumers with information relating to the pricing of the goods/services without the consumer having to visit the outlet, and to assure that the price information communicated to consumers was honored by the outlet, for at least a specified period of time.
Further, retailers attempt to attract customers through costly advertising on television, radio, or in print, but again limitations exist as to what information can be conveyed to the consumer. In some cases, the prices of these goods/services are so volatile that it is impractical to advertise them other than at the outlet where they are purchased. A retailer must also promote and advertise its other secondary goods/services such as convenience store items or vehicle repair, which are often purchased in tandem with a product such as vehicle fuel. It would be worthwhile to retailers to have other media, and/or lowest cost media, for communicating with consumers.
However, advertising is a passive form of communication and it does not allow the retailer of these commodity-like goods or services to compile current, actual demographic data of its customers. Without this data, a retailer can only infer what the needs of his consumers are. As a result, the retailer may offer goods/services that do not precisely meet the needs of the consumer, or the retailer may miss out on revenue opportunities by not providing the goods/services that consumers are interested in purchasing. It would be worthwhile to retailers to be able to collect better information about the interests of their consumers.
It is also difficult for retailers, relative to their competition, to assess pricing and other variables for these types of goods/services. Retailers of these types of goods/services incur additional expenses, such as the labor and vehicle expense associated with driving around, in order to ascertain the current prices of such goods/services sold by their competitors. This is particularly true when the price of such goods/services may be subject to rapid, volatile, and asynchronous price fluctuations in the marketplace. Further, retailers are sometimes limited in collecting this information because of work schedules, distances between competitors, traffic, and other factors. It would be worthwhile to retailers to reduce the expenses associated with gathering information about the current prices of such goods/services sold by their competitors, and/or to be able to collect such information more frequently and/or more easily.
It would thus be of great value to provide systems and methods which better allow the consumers and retailers of such goods/services to communicate and acquire information relating to such goods/services without having to travel to the retail outlet(s).